Question 1 - In what ways does your Media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

NME Magazine.




















Q Magazine




















My magazine - "Juice"


In many ways, my music magazine is similar to other music magazines on the market.

• The front cover features an attractive female, similar to Q magazine. This is often featured on on magazines, especially if it is targeted at a male audience as they would be more inclined to pick up the magazine and explore it's content. However, my model isn't quite as exposed as the model featured on Q, and she comes across as more genuine. This would make my magazine more appealing to a female audience too as they would feel they could relate to her.
• A similar colour scheme to the professional covers was incorporated into my magazine. Through my research and planning, i discovered that a red, white and yellow colour scheme is often popular in "indie" music magazines, because it looks bold and quirky.
• There are sans serif fonts incorporated onto the two professional covers above, which make them look up-to-date. I chose a similar font for my front cover as my magazine is aimed at a similar audience, so would also require an up-to-date feel.

However, it also challenges some typical media conventions. This was necessary to make it stand out from other magazines on the market. Example's of this were:

• Q magazine is aimed at a fairly higher class audience, therefore the front cover is kept fairly simplistic to connote formality. Mine differs from this, looking a lot more casual and down to earth. The differences in these magazines is due to differing target markets. Although there is similar music featured in both, the intended readers are slightly different so the magazines have to conform to the readers likes and dislikes to make sure the magazine is sold.
  
• The target market for both Q and NME is mostly males, whereas mine is aimed at a combination of male and female. I did this because there are not any "indie-rock" magazines on the market, therefore I think it would be popular with a female audience.
• My magazine is not as mainstream as NME, therefore would not feature quite as popular bands. It was designed to promote less popular bands that are perhaps produced by independent labels, to make it quirky and original.